Both have asked to remain anonymous. But one of them has chosen to speak to the Daily Mirror about his experience to encourage more people to sign up to the organ donor register.

Explaining why he wishes to remain anonymous, he said: “None of my family know that I’m HIV positive. It’s only my wife, my doctor and my nurses who know. Partly, it’s because I think there’s still a stigma.”

The surgeries have been hailed as one of the biggest medical advances in a generation, but the journey to the ­operating theatre was not straightforward.

The first recipient had been diagnosed with HIV in 2001 after being infected by a previous girlfriend.

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In 2006, now married, he took a second hammer blow. His HIV status, coupled with high blood pressure, led to him being ­diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure.

“My doctors said my kidneys were only working at 8%,” he said. “I was seriously ill.

“I wouldn’t say I nearly died, but it was close – I was obviously worried.”

He was immediately put on dialysis, and stayed on it three times a week for nine years, which he describes as “difficult”.

Eventually he got a call from Dr Rachel Hilton, a consultant kidney specialist at Guy’s Hospital in Southwark. She told him an HIV kidney had become available.

Dr Rachel Hilton (Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror)

The patient admitted he took some convincing when it was first put to him.

“Initially, I was sceptical,” he said. “But we sat down and had a good talk. I said I would think about it.”

But the opportunity was one he eventually believed he could not pass up.

He said: “I told the doctor, ‘You’ve got to take a risk sometimes in life, so I will go for it.’”

Even so, he had mixed emotions. “I just prayed it would be OK,” he said.

Less than five hours after the kidneys became available, the two transplant patients were admitted to Guy’s Hospital.

At 9am the next day the kidneys arrived, having been kept cold at a temperature between 0C and 4C.

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After final tests to predict how compatible the new kidneys would be, the patients were ready.

The operations, lasting around two and a half hours each, were carried out one after the other on the same day. More than a dozen medics were involved, including surgeons, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, matrons, anaesthetists and transplant co-ordinators.

In the operating theatre, medics protected themselves from the risk of contracting HIV.

Nikolaos Karydis, a consultant transplant surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, who performed the surgeries, said: “These were the first two cases in the UK, and there were extra precautions taken compared to standard cases, mainly because of the virological status of both the donor and the recipients.

(Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror)

“That included double gloves and face masks to cover any exposed body parts. However, the risk of transmission to surgical staff was small.”

But the fear among the selfless medics was not primarily for their own safety, but whether the transplants would work.

Mr Karydis said: “There was a bit of stress around the procedure, because it was the first time we had done it. We all wanted it to happen, and for both cases to go well. Fortunately, that’s what happened. Because of the culture and experience of the staff, even challenging cases like this tend to go very smoothly.”

Mr Karydis describes seeing the patients doing well afterwards as “a big relief”. He added: “I remember seeing the relief in their eyes, and they had their own way of expressing that to me.”

The first patient remembers waking in a recovery ward after his transplant and “suddenly feeling strange” – because after being unable to pass urine for four years he finally needed a wee.

“That was when I realised it had gone well,” he said. “It was a happy moment.”

He was discharged from hospital after 20 days, with a fully functioning kidney.

A year on, both recipients are well – and off dialysis completely.

The man said: “It’s changed my life significantly. I can eat anything I want, drink anything I want, go where I want.It’s amazing that the medical team have been able to achieve this. One of them asked how I felt, as the first person in the UK to successfully undergo a transplant using a kidney from a donor with HIV.

“I said, ‘It feels good. I’m very lucky, and very grateful.’ I have no regrets.”

He does not know the identity of the donor, but said: “From the bottom of my heart I’d like to thank that person, whoever it is. They’ve changed my life.”